Fear of Loss
by OwlCityFanatic
Summary: The title says a lot xD Charlie is held hostage, Don does the big brother thing. This story was kinda rushed... sorry if its missing anything. But I hope you enjoy it.


It took only a matter of seconds for Don to realize what was happening. That man, the man with the gun, was pulling his little brother out of the reach of Don's help.

"No!" Don bellowed as he launched himself towards the slamming door. However, he reacted too late, and his shoulder made contact with the closed door. "Get it open!" he shouted, to his agents standing behind him in shock as he pounded his fists on the door.

From the other side, he heard his brother let out a yelp.

"Charlie?" he called out in a anxious voice, then when there was no answer, his heart clenched in fear. The man who had his brother had strolled right into the FBI headquarters, so he had to have some sort of security clearance. He had walked up to Charlie, that much Don had seen from his bullpen, and gave him a sideways smile. Charlie had opened his mouth to ask the man if he needed something, when the man whipped out a glock, threw his arm around Charlie's neck, and pressed the gun to Charlie's temple.

Don usually handled hostage situations with a calm and clear head, but this was no stranger being held hostage, this was his baby _brother, _so of course Don had instantly leaped to his feet, pulling out his own gun. He'd shouted at the man, warning him to release Charlie from the chokehold. The stranger begin backing up towards the door, dragging a terrified Charlie with him. Don, too afraid to dash towards the man and wrestle the gun away. It obviously wasn't an option to frighten the man into hurting his brother, and he couldn't fire at the man either. There was no way he'd risk hitting Charlie, no matter how good a shot he was. And then the man had jerked Charlie backwards through a doorway, shoved him to the ground, and slammed the door.

"Agent Eppes, correct?" the stranger asked pleasantly from the other side of the door.

"Open up." Don demanded through gritted teeth, his hands pressed against the door as if he could still force it open.

"Tsk, tsk, Eppes. Is that anyway to talk to the man who has a gun to your consultants head?" the man chuckled darkly.

"If there is even ONE scratch on him, by God I swear I'll-" Don begin to shout angrily.

"DON'T THINK I HAVE THE GUTS TO DO IT EPPES? I SWEAR! I WILL FUCKING KILL HIM!" the man interrupted, suddenly seething. With another cry of pain from Charlie, Don clenched his jaw together so tightly, a voice in the back of his head warned him he was going to shatter his teeth.

"We're working on how to get the door open without angering him, Don." Colby whispered, suddenly behind his boss.

Don sucked in a huge whoosh of air, "Just hurry."

"I'm debating on how to kill him." the man, cheerful again, called to Don.

"What do you want? You can have whatever you want, just… just don't HURT him." Don said, resorting to pleading.

"Well someone has to pay. You feds…" the man trailed off, then started again. "You feds killed my brother. I work in a security agency as well, and I'd been able to keep what my brothers been doing for the past year a secret. It wasn't his FAULT damn it! He was troubled! He needed help, and I tried to help him but I couldn't! You guys didn't even give him a CHANCE! He holds one cashier hostage, holds a knife to her throat, and you guys take his life."

Don listened to the mans story, his heart sinking the entire time, "Kill me then. I'm a fed, the man you have now is not."

"What's your name?" the man demanded.

Don was confused at first, since the man had obviously been calling him by his name, but then his brother replied softly, "Charlie."

"Last name?" the man added impatiently.

Charlie didn't reply, and he suddenly whimpered in fear.

"What are you doing?" Don demanded.

"Charles Eppes, huh?" the man said, ignoring Don's question. Don figured he'd grabbed the visitors pass that hung from Charlie's neck. The pass Charlie didn't even NEED. "Related then. Judging by Agent Eppes's tone outside, I'd say you're a younger brother. What do you say we make big brother feel the pain I felt?"

It took a second for the words to sink in, and when they did, Don's heart leaped into his throat. "NO!" he roared, "OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!"

"This seem like a good spot to the place the gun, Charlie?" the man said cheerfully. "Your forehead?"

Don pushed at the door as he twisted the knob frantically, desperately trying to get in. "Granger, Sinclair, Reeves, SOMEBODY… get this damn thing open!"

"I… I'm sorry about your brother." Charlie stammered. "Really I am… I-I'm sorry that y-you had to go thro-through th-that because it would b-be horrible for anyone to have to lo-lose a brother. W-why make someone else have to?"

"Charlie…" Don pleaded. "Don't- don't make him mad." Behind him, David and Colby stood ready to break the door down. Megan stood off to the side, her eyes fearfully trained on Don.

"Why make someone go through what I had to? Because I'm a sick man, huh? Sick in the head." the man snapped at Charlie. Don heard Charlie let out a gasp.

"Say goodbye, Charles." the man sighed. From the other side of the door, a gun fired.

"NOOOO!" Don roared. He frantically launched himself at the door, ramming it with his shoulder repeating a constant mantra as tears sprung to his eyes. "No, no, no, no, no…" David gently pushed the distraught man aside and quickly hit the doorknob with a dictionary, causing it to break off the door. With a hard kick to the center of the door, the door groaned and caved forward, but instead of clattering to the floor, it landed on top of someone who was obviously lying on the floor.

Don froze as he saw a hand sticking out from under the door, "Oh my God." He leaped sideways over the door and bent down to heft the door off of the person under it, but before his shaking hands could wrap around the sides, Colby interrupted him.

"Don."

"Granger," Don half sobbed out. "Help me lift this door without hurting-"

"Don!" David interrupted this time.

Megan was suddenly beside Don laying a gentle hand on his shoulder. He glanced at her, and she motioned to the corner. He impatiently looked to where she was pointing, and saw a shaking figure with unruly curls cowering in a ball on the floor. His breath hitched in his throat, and before he was aware of what he was doing, he was across the room and pulling his little brother off the floor and into his arms, crushing him to his chest.

"Holy crap Charlie," Don choked out as he pressed his face into Charlie's hair. He could feel his brothers silent sobs as he held him.

"I'm sorry Donnie, I'm so sorry!" Charlie gasped out. "I didn't know the man had a gun, I- …Don't be mad at me, please, I- I didn't know!"

"Be m…? G-God Buddy, no. That wasn't your fault at all, it was mine! I shouldn't have let him drag you in here. Damn, I- I thought he'd shot you! I thought- I thought I had lost you!" Don whispered into Charlie's hair. He suddenly pulled away and examined his little brother. "But you're alright? You're not hurt?"

Charlie sniffed and shook his head, "No… he… he shot himself." His eyes lowered from Don's face to the dead man under the door. "Oh God." he whimpered.

"Shh…" Don reached up and gently turned Charlie's head away from the body. He made eye contact with each member of his team. _Get that man out of here._

"Come on Buddy. Let's get you home." Don gently pulled his brother behind him as we led him towards the doorway, shielding him from hand that stuck out from under the door.

Charlie whimpered a little as he stepped over the corner of the door and out of the room. Don gently pulled Charlie away from the entryway and toward the exit.

"I gotcha Buddy…" Don soothed, wrapping an arm around his brothers shoulders.

"Thanks Donnie…" Charlie whispered.

"Anytime buddy… Anytime."


End file.
